


Monster

by paynesgrey



Category: Heroes (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-18
Updated: 2008-12-18
Packaged: 2019-01-06 22:48:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12220527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paynesgrey/pseuds/paynesgrey
Summary: Every monster gets his own little girl.





	Monster

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the "Distance" challenge at [](http://heroes-contest.livejournal.com/profile)[heroes_contest](http://heroes-contest.livejournal.com/)

For normal little girls, the monster lives under the bed, and he lives in fairy tales and in the movies that parents forbid them to watch. And when the morning comes, the monster is gone from under the bed, disappearing and fading with the shadows. The book closes, and the monster in fairy tales stays trapped inside. The movie ends and fades to black when the heroes defeat him.

But for special little girls like Claire, the monster does not disappear into the shadows and is never defeated. The hero can run a sword through his head or leave him to burn in an explosion of flames, yet he never dies and rises from the ashes and pulls the sword through his head only to come back – smiling and stalking menacingly, looking for his claim as if no harm to him has ever been done.

All monsters have a claim on one little girl – one he will never let go, one that will push him into an obsession, to follow her until her very last breath on his skin.

And because he has claimed her, he can find her in her thoughts and dreams. He chases her like the wolf in the woods, giving her a sneak peek for what’s to come.

Suddenly, she wakes up and cries in a frantic breath, confused and allured by the smoldering heat that lingers underneath her clothes. His breath still lingers on the shell of her ear, and within that quick thought, she snaps her head and rubs her ear on her shoulder, wiping and scrubbing like a tainted and itchy sore that never scabs over.

Then, she hears his haunting voice, and the shadows in her room seem wide and expansive - billowing out into the darkest distance.

She closes her eyes and can see his face as clearly as the day she thought she killed him. She knows she’ll see him again. The monster lives because she lives. The string that connects them will never snap.

The wind scrapes the branches against the house. It bangs against the window pane like an unwelcome moan. Her room feels crowded. The floor boards squeal just a few breaths beside her.

Claire knows she’s not alone.

“Sylar.” It’s the word of the calm before the storm. She knows he likes the way it expels through her teeth like a hot ragged sigh. Always.

Her monster returns for her, just as she’s forever known he would.

END


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